Next phase

Congratulations! If you have made it this far you have designed a strategy and got it approved. You now have a business case, an agreed framework, methodology, and governance structure. You have created repositories and developed a process by which you can publish your models. You have populated the repository with key components that will be used again and again. In alphabetical order, these critical components are hierarchical lists of the following business objects:

• Actors

• Business rules

• Computer systems

• Customers

• Data

• Events

• Facilities

• Gear

• Goals

• Processes

• Products and services

They may not look like much. After all, you did not need to purchase ProVision® just to make lists. You could have done that in Microsoft Word or Excel. These lists are the building blocks from which you will start to assemble models. So now what do you do, to create value?

We recommend that the first model you build to show to stakeholders is a Client Service model. (If you sell products to customers, then you may wish to call it a Customer Product model.) Throughout this book we will use the terms interchangeably. This model is often overlooked. It visualizes which clients get which services. In an outside-in view of the world, the customer comes first. Therefore it is essential that you have a way to express the relationship between who your clients are and what they get.

Note

Use the navigator model to build the Client Service model. Populate the model with the customer and product objects you created previously. Use communication links to express the relationship. You can remove any objects from the model which do not add clarity without breaking the relationships. Senior managers must own this work. Once the Client Service model is complete, do not proceed to the next step until they have approved it.

You now have a bare bones repository of information about your business. The next step will be determined by the priorities of the business. There will be specific projects that will be candidates as the 'first cab off the rank'.

In determining which projects to select, we recommend that you choose the ones which are mission critical. It is tempting to choose a project that is low profile and low impact. It is also tempting to choose a project because the project manager is happy to have your help. This way you can iron out the bugs, build skill, expertise, and confidence in a safe environment.

Please resist this temptation. Remember that something significant in your environment will change within three months. This might be that the champion goes off to do another job or even leaves the company. Their replacement may not like what you do at all!

Therefore, each modeling project must demonstrate value to the business every three months. Making lists of processes is important and essential. It does not demonstrate to anyone outside of the modeling team that your costs are worthwhile.

So, within the first quarter, make it your business to model the benefits that a key business project will have. If it is a critical project then the senior managers will know that it is critical. If it is technical in nature, they might have little understanding of what is actually being done. By creating models that visually demonstrate what the project is about, you can help that project team and the senior management team. In some cases your models will actually enable the senior managers to understand the project for the first time.